early in the story
Alice's Boredom by the Riverbank
Alice sits with her sister on a riverbank, growing increasingly tired of having nothing to do. She peeps into her sister's book but finds it lacks pictures or conversations, which she considers useless. She contemplates making a daisy-chain but is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a White Rabbit with pink eyes, who runs close by her, muttering about being late and pulling a watch from his waistcoat-pocket. This extraordinary sight sparks her curiosity, and she follows the Rabbit as he pops down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge, beginning her descent into Wonderland.
immediately after following the White Rabbit
The Fall Down the Rabbit-Hole
Alice falls down a deep well, the rabbit-hole having turned into a vertical shaft. The fall is slow enough that she has time to observe her surroundings, noticing cupboards, bookshelves, maps, and pictures on the sides. She takes a jar labeled 'ORANGE MARMALADE' from a shelf but finds it empty, and manages to place it back in a cupboard as she passes. During the fall, she muses about the distance to the center of the Earth, imagines coming out among people who walk with their heads downward, and talks to herself about her cat Dinah, wondering if cats eat bats. The fall ends abruptly when she lands on a heap of sticks and dry leaves.
after landing at the bottom of the rabbit-hole
The Hall of Doors and the Golden Key
Alice finds herself in a long, low hall lit by lamps, with doors all around but all locked. She discovers a tiny golden key on a three-legged glass table, which fits a small door behind a curtain, leading to a passage into a beautiful garden. However, she is too large to fit through the door. She returns to the table and finds a bottle labeled 'DRINK ME,' which she cautiously tastes and finishes, finding it pleasant. She shrinks to ten inches high, but then realizes she has left the golden key on the table and cannot reach it. She cries in frustration, then finds a small cake labeled 'EAT ME' under the table, which she eats, hoping it will change her size.
after eating the EAT ME cake
Growing to Nine Feet Tall
Alice grows to an enormous size, her head striking the roof of the hall, and she becomes more than nine feet tall. She takes the golden key and hurries to the garden door, but now she is too large to even look through it properly. She sits down and cries again, shedding gallons of tears that form a large pool around her, about four inches deep and reaching halfway down the hall. The White Rabbit returns, splendidly dressed and carrying a fan and white kid gloves, muttering about the Duchess. Alice timidly asks for help, but the Rabbit is startled, drops the fan and gloves, and scurries away into the darkness.
after the White Rabbit's departure
Identity Crisis and Shrinking Again
Alice picks up the fan and gloves, and while fanning herself, she ponders her identity, wondering if she has been changed in the night. She tries to recite multiplication tables and geography but gets them wrong, and her recitation of 'How doth the little busy bee' comes out as 'How doth the little crocodile.' She fears she has become Mabel and decides she would rather stay in Wonderland than go home. She notices she has put on one of the Rabbit's gloves and realizes she is shrinking again, discovering that the fan is the cause. She drops it just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether, but then finds herself only two feet high. She runs back to the garden door, but it is shut again, and the key is on the table as before.
after shrinking to two feet high
The Pool of Tears and the Mouse
Alice slips and falls into the pool of tears she had wept when she was nine feet high, now up to her chin in salt water. She swims about, trying to find her way out, and encounters a Mouse that has also fallen in. She tries to speak to it in French, thinking it might be a French mouse, but the Mouse is offended when she mentions cats. Alice apologizes and tries to talk about dogs, but the Mouse is further offended and swims away. She calls it back, and the Mouse agrees to tell its history if they get to the shore. The pool becomes crowded with other birds and animals that have fallen in, including a Duck, a Dodo, a Lory, and an Eaglet, and they all swim to the shore.
after reaching the shore
The Caucus-Race
The assembled party on the bank is wet and uncomfortable. The Mouse attempts to dry them by reciting a dry history lesson about William the Conqueror, but it is ineffective. The Dodo proposes a Caucus-race, where everyone runs in a circle for half an hour until they are dry. The Dodo declares that everyone has won and must have prizes. Alice distributes comfits from her pocket as prizes, and the Dodo presents her with a thimble as her own prize. The party then eats the comfits, causing some confusion among the large and small birds, and they sit down again, begging the Mouse to tell a story.
after the Caucus-race
The Mouse's Tale
The Mouse begins to tell its long and sad tale, which Alice misinterprets as a 'long tail' because of the Mouse's physical tail. The Mouse recites a poem in the shape of a tail, about a dog named Fury who takes a mouse to court. Alice is not paying attention, and the Mouse becomes angry when she mentions a knot, thinking she is making fun of it. The Mouse walks away in a huff, despite Alice's pleas to finish the story. The Lory sighs, and an old Crab tells her daughter to learn a lesson about losing one's temper. Alice mentions her cat Dinah, which frightens the birds away, and she is left alone, feeling lonely and crying again.
after being left alone
The White Rabbit's House
Alice hears footsteps and sees the White Rabbit trotting back, looking for his fan and gloves. The Rabbit mistakes Alice for his housemaid, Mary Ann, and orders her to fetch them. Alice runs to the Rabbit's house, finds a tidy room with a fan and gloves, and also discovers an unlabeled bottle. She drinks it and begins to grow rapidly, soon filling the room. She puts one arm out the window and one foot up the chimney to accommodate her size. The Rabbit and his servant Pat try to remove her, and Bill the Lizard is sent down the chimney, but Alice kicks him out. The animals throw pebbles at her, which turn into cakes, and Alice eats one to shrink, then escapes into a wood.
after escaping into the wood
Encounter with the Puppy
Alice wanders in the wood, planning to grow to her right size and find the garden. She encounters an enormous puppy, which she tries to play with using a stick, but she is terrified it might eat her. She dodges behind a thistle as the puppy chases the stick, and after a series of charges, the puppy sits down, panting. Alice takes the opportunity to escape, running until she is tired and the puppy's bark fades. She rests against a buttercup, fanning herself with a leaf, and wonders how to grow again, realizing she needs to eat or drink something.
after resting in the wood
Advice from the Caterpillar
Alice finds a large mushroom and sees a blue Caterpillar sitting on top, smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar asks 'Who are you?' and Alice struggles to answer, feeling she has changed so many times. The Caterpillar is curt and contradictory, but eventually tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her grow taller and the other side shorter. Alice breaks off a piece from each side and nibbles first from the right, which makes her shrink rapidly, then from the left, which makes her neck grow long. She manages to balance her size by nibbling both pieces, eventually returning to her usual height.
after nibbling the mushroom
The Pigeon's Accusation
Alice's neck grows so long that it resembles a serpent, and she frightens a Pigeon, who accuses her of being a serpent trying to steal eggs. Alice insists she is a little girl, but the Pigeon is unconvinced, saying she has never seen a little girl with such a neck. The Pigeon eventually settles back into its nest, and Alice continues to nibble the mushroom pieces until she returns to her normal height. She then comes upon a little house about four feet high and nibbles more of the right-hand bit to shrink to nine inches tall before approaching it.
after shrinking to nine inches
The Fish-Footman and the Frog-Footman
Alice stands before the little house and sees a Fish-Footman deliver a letter to a Frog-Footman, inviting the Duchess to play croquet with the Queen. The two footmen bow, their curls tangling, and Alice laughs. The Fish-Footman leaves, and the Frog-Footman sits on the ground, staring at the sky. Alice knocks on the door, but the Footman tells her it's useless because they are on the same side and the noise inside is too loud. A plate flies out and hits the Footman's head, but he continues as if nothing happened. Alice opens the door and enters the kitchen.
after entering the house
The Duchess's Kitchen
The kitchen is full of smoke from pepper, causing everyone to sneeze. The Duchess sits on a three-legged stool nursing a baby, while the cook stirs a cauldron of soup. A large Cheshire Cat sits on the hearth, grinning. Alice asks why the cat grins, and the Duchess explains it's a Cheshire Cat. The cook throws fire-irons, saucepans, and dishes at the Duchess and the baby, but the Duchess ignores them. The Duchess sings a lullaby about beating the baby when it sneezes, then flings the baby at Alice and leaves to play croquet with the Queen. Alice catches the baby, which soon turns into a pig, and she sets it down, watching it trot away into the wood.
after the baby turns into a pig
Conversation with the Cheshire Cat
Alice sees the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree. The Cat grins and gives Alice directions: the Hatter lives in one direction, the March Hare in another, and both are mad. The Cat explains that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice. It tells Alice she will see it at the Queen's croquet game, then vanishes and reappears several times, asking about the baby. The Cat vanishes slowly, starting with the tail and ending with the grin, which remains after the rest has gone. Alice walks toward the March Hare's house, nibbling more mushroom to grow to two feet high.
after arriving at the March Hare's house
The Mad Tea-Party
Alice finds a table set under a tree with the March Hare, the Hatter, and a sleeping Dormouse having tea. They cry 'No room!' but Alice sits down anyway. The Hatter asks a riddle: 'Why is a raven like a writing-desk?' but no one knows the answer. The Hatter's watch is broken, stuck at six o'clock, so it is always tea-time. The Dormouse tells a story about three sisters who live at the bottom of a treacle-well, but Alice finds it confusing. The party becomes increasingly nonsensical, and Alice leaves in disgust, calling it the stupidest tea-party she has ever attended.
after leaving the tea-party
Entering the Garden
Alice notices a door in a tree and enters it, finding herself back in the long hall with the glass table. She takes the golden key, unlocks the door to the garden, and nibbles the mushroom until she is about a foot high. She walks down the little passage and finally enters the beautiful garden with bright flower-beds and cool fountains.
after entering the garden
The Queen's Croquet-Ground
Alice sees three gardeners (Two, Five, and Seven) painting white roses red, fearing the Queen's wrath. The Queen of Hearts arrives with a procession of cards, soldiers, courtiers, and royal children. The Queen is furious and orders the gardeners' heads off, but Alice hides them in a flower-pot. The Queen invites Alice to play croquet, using flamingos as mallets and hedgehogs as balls, with soldiers doubled up as arches. The game is chaotic, with players playing out of turn and the Queen constantly ordering beheadings. Alice becomes uneasy and seeks escape.
during the croquet game
The Cheshire Cat's Head
Alice notices the Cheshire Cat's grin in the air, and the Cat's head gradually appears. They talk about the unfair game, and the Cat asks how Alice likes the Queen. Alice says she does not like her at all, but the Queen overhears and passes on. The King sees the Cat's head and wants it removed. The Queen orders the Cat's head off, but the executioner argues that a head cannot be cut off without a body. The King and Queen argue, and Alice suggests asking the Duchess, who is in prison. The Cat's head fades away before the executioner returns with the Duchess.
after the Cheshire Cat disappears
The Duchess's Morals
The Duchess is brought from prison and walks arm-in-arm with Alice, finding a moral in everything. She talks about pepper making people hot-tempered and mustard biting, and gives Alice a confusing moral about never imagining yourself not to be otherwise. The Queen arrives and threatens the Duchess, who quickly leaves. The Queen and Alice return to the croquet game, which becomes even more chaotic, with most players under sentence of execution. The Queen then asks Alice if she has seen the Mock Turtle, and leads her to meet the Gryphon.
after meeting the Gryphon
The Mock Turtle's Story
The Gryphon takes Alice to see the Mock Turtle, who is sitting sadly on a rock. The Mock Turtle tells his history, describing his education at the bottom of the sea, with subjects like Reeling and Writhing, Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. He explains that lessons lessen from day to day, so the eleventh day is a holiday. The Gryphon interrupts and suggests telling about the games instead.
after the Mock Turtle's story
The Lobster Quadrille
The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon describe the Lobster Quadrille, a dance where participants form lines, advance with lobsters as partners, throw them out to sea, and swim after them. They sing a song about a whiting and a snail, and the Mock Turtle sings 'Beautiful Soup.' Alice tries to recite 'Tis the voice of the Lobster' but gets it wrong. The Gryphon and Mock Turtle are amused, and Alice is relieved when they are interrupted by a cry of 'The trial's beginning!'
after the Lobster Quadrille
The Trial of the Knave of Hearts
Alice arrives at the court where the King and Queen of Hearts are seated on their throne. The Knave of Hearts is on trial for stealing the Queen's tarts. The White Rabbit reads the accusation, and the Hatter is called as the first witness. The Hatter's testimony is confused, and he is dismissed. The cook is the next witness but refuses to give evidence. The White Rabbit then calls Alice as a witness. Alice has grown large during the trial and accidentally upsets the jury-box. The King reads Rule Forty-two, ordering anyone more than a mile high to leave, but Alice refuses. The White Rabbit produces a set of verses as evidence, which the King interprets as proof of the Knave's guilt, but Alice argues they are nonsense.
during the trial
Alice's Defiance and Awakening
The Queen demands 'Sentence first—verdict afterwards,' but Alice loudly declares it nonsense. The Queen orders 'Off with her head!' but Alice, now at her full size, shouts 'Who cares for you? You're nothing but a pack of cards!' The entire pack of cards rises into the air and flies down upon her. Alice gives a little scream and tries to beat them off, then finds herself lying on the riverbank with her head in her sister's lap. Her sister wakes her, saying she has had a long sleep. Alice tells her sister about her curious dream, and her sister kisses her, saying it was a curious dream. Alice runs off to tea, thinking about what a wonderful dream it was.
after Alice wakes up
The Sister's Dream
Alice's sister sits still, leaning her head on her hand, watching the setting sun and thinking of Alice's adventures. She begins to dream herself, imagining the White Rabbit hurrying by, the Mouse splashing in the pool, the March Hare's tea-party, the Queen's orders, the pig-baby sneezing, and the Mock Turtle's sobs. She knows that opening her eyes will bring back dull reality, but she pictures Alice as a grown woman, keeping her simple and loving heart, and telling strange tales to other children, including the dream of Wonderland of long ago.
